Akira Toriyama Passes Away.

[funrush]

If I were to have ever met Toriyama, I would say "Thank you for creating a world I've loved for 20 years." I wish the best for his family.

Eiichiro Oda gave a very touching message about Toriyama and basically credits Dragon Ball for making manga a respected art medium: https://x.com/sandman_AP/status/1765945 ... 88031?s=20

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

https://www.db-z.com/emmanuel-macron-ho ... -toriyama/
https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/stat ... 5270225954
Even the French president left a message after Toriyama's passing.

Even the norwegian tv news channel reported on it:
https://www.tv2.no/direkte/jpybz/siste- ... -68-er-dod

I was looking around for papers hoping the Irish media would report on this, couldn't find anything in print, but they wrote about it online at least.

The Washington Post also did a little more detailed retrospective although made a slight error with saying Dragon Ball Z premiered on Toonami in 1996.

YTV also shared the love for Toriyama.

[tinlunlau]

Retired Hong Kong voice actor and Cantonese dub voice of Goku speaks out regarding Akira Toriyama's death.

http://xhslink.com/DUo3fD

[FinalPilaf]

There is SO MUCH I want to write about this, but I feel like if I tried express everything that Dragon Ball has meant to the world and everything it has meant to me, this post would just go on forever.

For the moment I'll just refrain from actualy talking about Dragon Ball or about myself and instead talk about Akira Toriyama's passing and what this in particular seem to mean.

We live in a world that's utterly divided when it comes to both what people know about, what people think and what people care about. Most pieces of media and also most celebrities that are perhapes in large parts of the world thought of as "global" icons are in actuality either completely unknown or seen as comletely uninteresing in other large parts of the world. And when it comes to tragedies such as deaths, wars, and massacres, all too many people are so caught up in their alliances to a specific group (nationality, ethnic group, political group, "civilization" such as the west ect) that they are barely even able to be genuinly touched by a tragedy if it happens to a people of the percieved "enemy" group or to a group that they've barely even given a thought about. It's terrible that it is this way, but we all know that it is true.

...and so one very special thing connected to the passing of Akira Toriyama that I have noticed is how this seems to be one of those rare cases where people of basically all groups are mourning. Dragon Ball comes closer to being a truly global pop culture phenomenon than almost anything else. In cultures as diverse and far appart as Brazil to China Dragon Ball is not just known but as beloved as any fiction based property could be. It is iconic among Japanese people in Japan, and in the japanese dispora, westerners both white and of racial minorities, lations all over Meso-and South America, and throughout the rest of the globe. And people are mourning the man as someone that belongs to them. African Americans saying "rest in power" and talking about how Dragon Ball made them believe that they could grow up to gain power and respect despite being brought up in underprivilidged conditions and with a dismissive society around them, Mexicans talking about Dragon Ball as if it was a home grown part of Mexican culture just as much as lucho libre with Goku being in the same league as El Santo, white western comic book and scfi-fi geeks of the older, classic kind that generally aren't interesed in anime but rather in Star Wars and Star Trek, and who have no idea what something like Kimetsu no yaiba or Boku no Hero Academia is, and yet who makes an almost collective exception for Dragon Ball as part of the undisputable geek canon, Japanese people talking about how Dragon Ball chanced the course of their entire popular culture, ect ect ect.

And so, personally, I'm going to remember this moment as that rare, sad, yet bittersweet moment when all races were united by mourning.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

The outpouring love I’ve seen in the past 24+ hours from fellow mangaka, animators, aspiring artists, athletes, gamers, fans, actors, wrestlers, politicians, journalists, musicians, game developers, the list just goes on and on and on, man… It’s so overwhelmingly beautiful.

He touched so many people’s hearts with his work. To see him go while in the middle of so many projects that he seemed excited about hurts so much. I can’t even properly describe how much his work means to me. I’m so grateful for all the friends I’ve made because of what Toriyama created.

I hope I can tell stories like him someday. I’ve never been this emotionally wrecked for someone I’ve never met before. He’s probably the reason I ever got into storytelling. I’ll never ever forget him.

[TonyTheTiger]

I think one thing that's worth expressing is gratitude for having been there. Think about what it must have been like being a kid at the theatrical premiere of Wizard of Oz, for example. We all know of things that totally rewrote the book but think about the privilege of being specifically one of the people who saw it happen. We were the people who got to be contemporaries of Akira Toriyama. We saw this happen as it was happening. In the grand scheme not a lot of people who have ever or will ever live get to say that.

[sangofe]

Now that I have cried me almost dry and starting to get a bit perspective on this I would like to say a BIG thanks to Toriyama Akira-sensei. Dragon Ball has meant so much to me. I never met the Toriyama-sensei, but his creation became such a deep and imporatnt part of my life. I have talked to so many other dragon ball fans, I have met voice actors, I have watched the anime with my daugther, read the manga for her, I have pretended that I could go Super Saiyan, I have dreamt I could fly, I have dreamt I could power up my ki, pretending to charge up and fire KaMeHaMeHa's, I have laughed, smiled, felt intruiged. My brother even told stories from a fantasy world ressembling the Dragon Ball univerese where him and I were the main characters! And that's where my nick "sangofe" (and avatar) comes from.

[Zekken]

This was the end of a legendary man. By no stretch of the word or any exaggeration the undisputable Greatest of all Time modern artist.
The works he made inspired too many to count, shaped me as a human. Thank you and Farewell Toriyama-sensei
Condolences to his family and friends.

[LoganForkHands73]

I’ve taken a day to digest the incredibly unexpected news. For a “celebrity death” it hit me extremely hard. I don’t have much more to add beyond what has already been said. Through his amazing work, Toriyama’s name still has a level of fame and influence few individuals would ever be able to attain. There’s definitely something special in being able to say you followed this legend’s work while he was still with us. I hope he rests in peace and that his family and friends are all holding up okay.

I suppose now is the time for reflection on what Toriyama and his work mean to me. Unlike so many who were first exposed to Dragon Ball in early childhood, usually on big programming blocks like Toonami or whatever else, my fandom for Dragon Ball came relatively late. I first really took notice of Dragon Ball in the early 2010s, mostly through the online culture surrounding it and other manga/anime series. However, I really got into the series when Super was getting big, and that inspired me to check out the older material. From then on, I was utterly hooked. I watched the anime and movies, I read the manga, it was all great. During COVID, when other activities I enjoy were suddenly unavailable, I sank even more into Dragon Ball and it became more of a damaging hyperfixation so I eventually resolved to give it a rest, though it was definitely fun to devour all the lore and behind-the-scenes trivia I could find.

Strange as it is to say, but Dragon Ball definitely gave me a greater appreciation and understanding of the roles individual creators play in these large, corporate, decentralised media franchises. While Toriyama is not the only creative controlling Dragon Ball (especially not for the last few decades), I could appreciate that his vision and voice was always extremely palpable in the work he was directly involved in. Even a paint-by-numbers job like Resurrection ‘F’ has plenty of distinctive flourishes that I genuinely think no other writer, official or otherwise, would have been able to replicate. When you look back on his older work, he was always able to convey a surprisingly nuanced range of emotions which often feels critically missing whenever he isn’t involved. The dynamic ways he conveyed action and movement were just unbelievably cool. Much of his later non-DB work is more quaint and low-key, and while his art style changed over the years, he never lost his core storytelling instincts.

[Big Momma]

I tried to come up with a nice post to fully realize whatever thoughts I have, but I've decided to just keep it simple:

This is Devastating news.
Rest in peace, Toriyama-sensei. Thank you for the inspiration and laughs.
I wouldn't be an artist if it weren't for you.

EDIT: I haven't been around here much in recent years, but it's nice to see so many names I remember coming back in to pay their respects (Or maybe a lot of you have always stayed around ). I joined this board when I was 15, and time I've been alive after is now shorter than the time before! It's crazy to think of the effect boards like this, born from a love for Toriyama's work, also have on people. The web of influence he's spun throughout his life is one few in history have/could ever match.

[Mister_Popo]

RIP. My condoleances to the family and relatives.

This comes as a bombshell. I have no words for it.
My heart is filled with sadness today.

Dragon Ball will undoubtedly live on, but it will never be the same.

[Mr. Slump]

Man…it still doesn’t feel real. I will say there is no piece of fiction that has had as much of an impact on me as Dragon Ball. This series has gotten me through so many bad times, and is currently getting me through another hard time with a current situation, this is a series has made up so many vital childhood memories and practically defined by childhood, and without it I’m not sure I’d even be alive right now. In a way, I was pretty much raised on the series and even though I have and never will meet Toriyama-Sensei myself I still had tears rolling down from cheeks knowing he’s no longer with us. Now normally I’m not a person who gets too bummed about celebrity deaths but given the immeasurable impact this man’s art had on me I couldn’t help but well up. My deepest condolences to his family and friends in this trying time.

Toriyama-Sensei you may have left this mortal coil but your legacy will live on forever in the millions of fans that you touched with your work. I will end this post about you with what you had Son Goku say in the cover to Volume 42 of the original manga, “Thank You, goodbye”. Goodbye Sensei and May you Rest In Peace.

[Grimlock]

Has anyone found/seen a statement from Ooishi Naho? If she said something publicly, that is. I would like to see what she said.

I did find a statement by Dai Miki. For those who don't know, he was Toriyama's sort of apprentice (?) and helped him with designs for Dragon Ball Online. Still pretty good!

I would love to have both Dai Miki and Ooishi Naho to play an active and bigger role in the franchise going forward.

[Hulk10]

It was bound to happen eventually...... RIP Akira Toriyama.

[sangofe]

It was bound to happen eventually...... RIP Akira Toriyama.

Yeah, but usually not when you're 68 and full into your works... That's just a couple of years older than my father...

[Hulk10]

It was bound to happen eventually...... RIP Akira Toriyama.

Yeah, but usually not when you're 68 and full into your works... That's just a couple of years older than my father...

Yeah................. But we can take heart in enjoying the franchises he left us.

[floofychan333]

It's a crying shame that Toriyama-sensei passed away so young and so unexpectedly. Dragon Ball will always be one of my life's defining media franchises, even if I don't post here anywhere near as much as I used to and I'm behind on the media released after Z. It makes me wish I had my manga volumes here at my new place instead of my parents' house so I could read all 42 again.

[sangofe]

Retired Hong Kong voice actor and Cantonese dub voice of Goku speaks out regarding Akira Toriyama's death.

http://xhslink.com/DUo3fD

https://www.db-z.com/emmanuel-macron-ho ... -toriyama/
https://twitter.com/EmmanuelMacron/stat ... 5270225954
Even the French president left a message after Toriyama's passing.

Even the norwegian tv news channel reported on it:
https://www.tv2.no/direkte/jpybz/siste- ... -68-er-dod

I was looking around for papers hoping the Irish media would report on this, couldn't find anything in print, but they wrote about it online at least.

The Washington Post also did a little more detailed retrospective although made a slight error with saying Dragon Ball Z premiered on Toonami in 1996.

YTV also shared the love for Toriyama.

The french TV Channel M6 also reported on this tragic passing:
https://twitter.com/m6info/status/1766131770133479501

There's been numerous voice actors having said something:
Eric Legrand (French vegeta): https://twitter.com/DBSuperFrance/statu ... 3242696061

Patric Borg (French adult Goku): https://twitter.com/DBSuperFrance/statu ... 3242696061

Brigitte Lecordier (French young Goku): https://www.facebook.com/reel/925268425747652

Mark Lesser (French adult Gohan, Broly): https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10 ... 9984258285

Caspar Phillipson (Danish adult Goku): https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=79 ... 6799629629

Herms has translated a LOT of messages:
https://twitter.com/Herms98

And this french site has put together a lot of messages from various people:
https://dragonballsuper-france.fr/le-mo ... -toriyama/

[90sDBZ]

R.I.P. Mr Toriyama. Thanks for creating my favourite franchise and making my childhood awesome.

[MasenkoHA]

.

The Washington Post also did a little more detailed retrospective although made a slight error with saying Dragon Ball Z premiered on Toonami in 1996.

[.

In their defense Funimation had done the same thing

https://youtu.be/4HYgAydD6D0?si=V-37Ehi5w2qgzW42


"The Original Toonami Broadcast!"

"Rock the Dragon like it's 1996!"